The EVH 5150 III Owners Thread

[TheRileyOBrien]

Could anyone give me a rundown on the headphone capabilities of these amps? I'll be in an apartment but also playing with a friend occasionally with some recording. Is the tone any good through headphones for bedroom uses?

No it is awful.

When playing through a cab you can turn the volume down to the point where the guitar is louder acoustically so there is really no point.

 

[Seb88]

Hi all. I've been planning on picking up a 5153 for a while now and have managed to find a bstock head for £699 (new £919). I've spoken to the store and they've advised that it was returned to them for faulty tubes but this has now been rectified but of course can't be sold as new. Has anyone ever bought bstock amps before and what are your thoughts? Am I taking a risk or should I just pay the extra and get a new one? Thanks

 

[robski92]

god damn that pedal board is huge!

 

[Leviathus]

 

[TheShreddinHand]

Could anyone give me a rundown on the headphone capabilities of these amps? I'll be in an apartment but also playing with a friend occasionally with some recording. Is the tone any good through headphones for bedroom uses?

I haven't tried the headphones yet myself but as Riley said, you can get usable tone at whisper volumes.

 

[chopeth]

No it is awful.

 

[curlyvice]

Does anyone know if they've rectified the volume jump between channels 1 and 2 on the 50 watters?

Also, if any of you guys own the 1x12 combo does it have the same volume jump as the head?

 

[TheShreddinHand]

Does anyone know if they've rectified the volume jump between channels 1 and 2 on the 50 watters?

Also, if any of you guys own the 1x12 combo does it have the same volume jump as the head?

Yes the volume jump is still present on the 1x12 combo but there are ways around it. For instance if I run the gain at 3 o clock on the green/blue channel and I have my lows at 1 o clock, mid and treble at 9 o clock and presence at 11 or 12 clock and then I set the volume level for the blue channel when u switch to the green channel I can roll my guitar's volume knob to what would essentially be 1 or 2 and it cleans up pretty darn good making a 3 channel amp possible again vs just using green and red channels.

 

[Tomen]

Does anyone know if you can activate the loop with midi on the combo?

 

[DarthV]

Well, just joined the club. Had switched from a 6505 & mesa 4x12 to a Kemper & studio monitors, but a friend wants to start jamming. Found a nice deal on a 50w & 2x12 cab for about as much money as a cab & some sort of power amp, so why not go with glass?! Very few scuffs and still has the plastic on the emblems!

Had it delivered to work, so I brought in my JP6 to give it a try at break time. Officially the loudest office in any library office worldwide

 

[Promit]

I just got a 50W and I'm still exploring what it can do. Two questions. First, anyone have any tips on getting a Marshally crunch out of this thing? Second, what's the advice on dialing in the red channel to be a little less absurdly saturated?

 

[TheWarAgainstTime]

I just got a 50W and I'm still exploring what it can do. Two questions. First, anyone have any tips on getting a Marshally crunch out of this thing? Second, what's the advice on dialing in the red channel to be a little less absurdly saturated?

First: Blue channel, gain around 5-6 (to taste really) bass around 4-5, mids at 6-7, highs at 6ish, presence between 4 and 7 (as needed with your cab/taste)

Second: the amp will always be an angry little ball of saturation, but I've been able to dial it back by running the gain around 3-4, bass at 3, mids at 3-4, highs around 3, and presence at 5 or 6ish. You may need to run the volume a little higher than normal to compensate, but this sound is smoother and has less *at least perceived* gain to it.

My "normal" settings for both channels are: green/blue channel gain at 3.5-4, bass at 7, mids at 3.5-4, highs at 6. Red channel: gain at 3.5, 666 b/m/t, then master presence between 4 and 6 depending on the cab and mood. Resonance pretty much always on full, boosting the front end with a Maxon 808 with no gain, treble at 2:00, full level, all going through a Mesa Stiletto 4x12. I've also got an EHX in V1, balanced Sovtek LPS in the phase inverter, Sovtek WXT+ power tubes, and the rest stock JJ's.

 

[op1e]

I just got a 50W and I'm still exploring what it can do. Two questions. First, anyone have any tips on getting a Marshally crunch out of this thing? Second, what's the advice on dialing in the red channel to be a little less absurdly saturated?

Needs a 5751 in v4 to dial back the gain and fatten it up. Amp sounds more full with the gain up around half, but impossible to control that high on the red channel.

 

[mikespe]

First: Blue channel, gain around 5-6 (to taste really) bass around 4-5, mids at 6-7, highs at 6ish, presence between 4 and 7 (as needed with your cab/taste)

Second: the amp will always be an angry little ball of saturation, but I've been able to dial it back by running the gain around 3-4, bass at 3, mids at 3-4, highs around 3, and presence at 5 or 6ish. You may need to run the volume a little higher than normal to compensate, but this sound is smoother and has less *at least perceived* gain to it.

My "normal" settings for both channels are: green/blue channel gain at 3.5-4, bass at 7, mids at 3.5-4, highs at 6. Red channel: gain at 3.5, 666 b/m/t, then master presence between 4 and 6 depending on the cab and mood. Resonance pretty much always on full, boosting the front end with a Maxon 808 with no gain, treble at 2:00, full level, all going through a Mesa Stiletto 4x12. I've also got an EHX in V1, balanced Sovtek LPS in the phase inverter, Sovtek WXT+ power tubes, and the rest stock JJ's.

Thanks for these settings! They work pretty good. I did adjust them a bit because I have the EVH 4x12 cab which is boomy. Now I am Trying to find a good setting to use a fuzz pedal (Deep Trip BOG) on the Green channel...Once I get my board back together I might try it with your first suggestion since you have the mids higher...Thanks!!

 

[mikespe]

Has anyone able to get good tone using a fuzz pedal on the clean channel or even the blue channel with low gain? I bought the Deep Trip BOG hoping to get a classic Hendrix tone (a la Woodstock) but it seems farty. The pedal works great with my 65 PRRI. Any settings you use with the fuzz will be helpful! Thanks!!

 

[Paincakes]

I read that the 5150III has "great cleans" for such a high gain amp. I would chose this amp for the high gain, but how versatile is the clean channel?
Could it do a passable "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" impression with a Strat?

Does one version of this amp have a better clean channel than the other versions?

Thanks!

 

[jc986]

You'd want the standard 100w version for the best cleans in the EVH lineup, but I found the cleans to be very lackluster on any EVH I've owned or played. That's one of the reasons I ended up selling mine. I prefer the cleans on a 6505+ to any EVH clean channel. For an amp with awesome cleans and high gain check out the Archon. They sell for criminally low prices used compared to their new pricing and the clean channel is amazing. Amazing in general, not "just for a high gain amp".

 

[Promit]

I kinda dislike the red channel on this amp - I guess it's really meant for long sustaining Eddie solos. I love the EVH blue channel on my Axe FX and as expected, it's fantastic in real life too. The green channel is great too. But... the volume jump on the 50w. Ugh. No, I don't want to run something in the loop to fix it. One possibility is getting the dual-control mod done, still looking into that but it appears to be goddamn expensive. Honestly I'm seriously considering trading the amp for a Dual Rec 3 ch multi-watt instead, which has proper independent controls for everything. Or I could get spendy but sacrifice the wattage for a MarkV:25. Am I nuts?

 

[jc986]

The volume jump was a deal breaker for me and one of the driving factors in trading mine. However if you are happy with the tone and the volume jump is the main gripe you might look to get a 100w EVH. I'd personally go for the multi-watt, but it is a different beast all together.

 

[TheWarAgainstTime]

^

The Rectifier will be a killer amp in its own right, but the 100w EVH is the most simple solution if you like the core tone of your amp right now